An update to Merc’s big CLS four-door coupe is on the way, and today the company has offered a first look at what’s to come.

The bulk of the styling changes are expected to occur at the front end, and that’s just what Mercedes-Benz has focused on here.

Key among those upgrades is the addition of the company’s new multi-beam LED technology in the subtly re-styled headlights.

Similar to Audi’s Matrix LED tech, the multi-beam lights use multiple LEDs to ensure high-precision high-beam lighting that keeps from dazzling other drivers.

There’s 24 individual LEDs, with the multi-beam system controlling each of the four total modules independently of the others.

The modules are integrated with a camera-based recognition system that reads the road ahead to watch for oncoming traffic and adjust the light path and intensity of the high-beam lights automatically - 100 times per second, in fact.

In high-beam operation, the multi-beam LEDs can cast a light range as far as 485 metres down the road - a 20 percent improvement over previous systems.

The upshot of all of this is that, thanks to multi-beam technology, Mercedes says that drivers can now leave their high-beams on at all times without irritating other motorists.

The system also includes four low-beam modules that can swivel 12 degrees, offering what Mercedes calls "anticipatory camera-based active light".

That function is also integrated with satellite navigation, using route data to begin swivelling the lights left and right as necessary while passing through roundabouts.

"The first LED headlamps with all the adaptive functions of the Intelligent Light System have been available to our customers since 2010 in the CLS", Daimler’s Thomas Weber said

"With MULTIBEAM LED technology the headlamps now are able to react even more quickly, more precisely and individually to changing traffic conditions. On top of this, there are expanded functions of which a driver will become directly aware, such as anticipatory camera-based curve recognition with the active light function. With such features Mercedes-Benz once again is demonstrating its role as an innovation leader in the automobile industry," he said.

Other features of the updated CLS range are still to be revealed, although it is clear from these shots that an updated grille design will appear, along with a new AMG bumper inspired by the brand’s latest models.